This is the third in a series of profile pieces about the Nareit Foundation’s DTD 2025 grantees and grant program. The grant program falls under the Foundation’s DTD initiative, which focuses on increasing the visibility, awareness, and appeal of the REIT industry to more businesses, workforce talent, and communities. There are three priority areas: supporting pipeline/talent development, expanding procurement and business development, and helping everyday investors understand REITs and how to invest in them.
In 2025, The Nareit Foundation awarded grants to nine nonprofit organizations. This third piece profiles Building Markets, and how its work supports procurement and business development.
Over the past several years, commercial real estate companies (CRE), especially REITs, have focused on a key business priority: expanding their supply chains, particularly by procuring services from small businesses and emerging, high-potential vendors.
This priority becomes an imperative when considering the costs of supply chain disruptions; a 2020 McKinsey & Company report projects that over the course of a decade, supply chain disruptions can wipe out around 45% of annual profits.
In addition to offering REITs resilience, expanding supply chains enables REITs to unlock innovation, drive cost efficiencies, and strengthen their impact on local economies.
The Challenge
Expanding supply chains to include diverse businesses is not always easy. Although small to medium businesses represent 90% of all businesses, corporations, on average, only spend 7.5% on procurement services from small businesses and other diverse vendors, according to Supplier.IO. When examining the CRE industry, that percentage decreases to 2% or less, according to NAIOP.
Why is there a gap? One of the reasons is access. “Several of our members have shared that one of the most persistent barriers they face as they try to diversify their supply chain is identifying, vetting, and sourcing small and local businesses in an efficient and cost-effective manner,” says Ayris T. Scales, senior vice president of social responsibility and global initiatives for Nareit.
“That’s why the Nareit Foundation is thrilled to have Building Markets as one of its 2025 DTD grantees,” she added.
Founded in 2004, Building Market’s mission is to unlock economic opportunities for small and emerging businesses, creating jobs and resilience in economically vulnerable communities. The Brooklyn-based nonprofit accomplishes this by helping small or lesser-known businesses connect to new buyers, capital, and networks.
The Nareit Foundation’s grant will help deliver improved access to REIT procurement opportunities, provide data-driven insights to enhance supplier strategies, and develop AI-powered tools to improve sourcing.
“Building Markets is focused on building inclusive economies in the United States and around the world,” says Elizabeth Brown, executive director at Building Markets U.S. “We want to unlock market opportunities for small businesses and help buyers build resilient supply chains by expanding the suppliers that they’re working with.”
Brown says the organization is well-positioned to advance that mission. For the past two decades, Building Markets has been building on a strong foundation of evidence that points to market access as a critical component of small business support, she explains. The organization has combined deep, local knowledge with comprehensive data and global networks, supporting more than 27,000 small business owners worldwide.
Transforming Procurement Sourcing
Building Markets is using the Nareit Foundation grant for a specific purpose: to begin developing an AI-powered matchmaking tool that will help REITs and other commercial real estate companies identify and connect with small and lesser-known suppliers. The tool is designed to make it easier for buyers to find high-potential vendors and form business relationships that strengthen and diversify their supply chains.
“This tool is designed to enhance how REITs connect with suppliers and really has the potential to transform how procurement sourcing happens,” Brown says. It’s designed to source new suppliers and enhance the quality of matches between buyers and suppliers, thereby reducing the time and cost typically associated with running this process.
“In essence, we're harnessing AI to make sourcing smarter, faster, and more inclusive,” she adds.
For the AI project, Building Markets is also partnering with the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center, which provides access to and knowledge about the entrepreneurship space. The Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center was one of the Nareit Foundation’s 2024 grantees, and to date, the Center has supported more than 100,000 entrepreneurs worldwide.
Building Markets is tapping into the Center’s network to help the entrepreneurs it has worked with connect with REIT buyers along the REIT value chain, Brown says.
“We want to learn from the REIT buyers what their needs are and how they're doing their sourcing, and we're eager to partner and engage with them in the process of building and refining the tool,” she continues. “Ultimately, we think the project represents a very strong step forward in using technology to close opportunity gaps.”
Brown is excited about the scale of impact that's possible over the next several years. In 2022, global trade in goods and services reached a record $32 trillion, yet procurement spending with women-owned businesses remains disproportionately low. In the private sector, women-owned businesses often receive less than 1% of corporate supplier spending, and while public sector targets are higher, many government entities still fall short of their goals.
“That's a huge gap, and if we can shift even a fraction of that capital towards small business owners or women-owned businesses, the result can be catalytic in generating income, creating jobs, and strengthening communities,” she continues. “I think that there's enormous potential. I'm also excited about partnering with the private sector toward this goal. This partnership with Nareit and its members is a really big step forward in that direction.”
Creating Opportunity to Rise
Brown is passionate about her work, having grown up in a family of small business owners and entrepreneurs.
“I saw firsthand how much a business can mean to a family, a neighborhood, and a community,” she says. “I watched the highs and lows up close: the risk, the resilience, and the pride that comes with creating your own path.”
Over the past decade, Brown has worked across a variety of international markets, and she has seen that not everyone starts from the same place or has access to the same resources.
“I believe deeply in the power of entrepreneurs to build brighter futures for themselves, their families, and their communities, and I’m committed to unlocking the opportunities they need to make those dreams real,” Brown says. “When we invest in small business leaders, we build stronger, more resilient supply chains, fuel economic growth, and ensure more people have the opportunity to rise.”
Getting Involved with Building Markets
REITs that want to know about how they can partner with Building Markets and/or other Nareit supplier engagement initiatives to increase their capacity and expand their supply chain network should contact Ayris T. Scales at ascales@nareit.com.
Other DTD Grantee Profiles
- Rutgers Business School Center for Women in Business (CWIB): Rutgers Helps Women in the REIT Industry G.R.O.W. Their Careers
- The Coalition: Nareit Foundation Grantee Fuels Expanded Economic Business Opportunities in Real Estate